Last Tuesday, Otunba Gbenga Daniel, a former governor of Ogun State, played host to select family members, friends and political associates at his Maryland office in Ikeja on the occasion of his 65th birthday.
Though it was a low-key event, the former governor was celebrated by his guests on that beautiful evening.
It is incontrovertible that OGD, as he is famously called, is not a pushover in the political setting in Nigeria, particularly in Ogun State, where he once held sway as the state’s helmsman between 2003 and 2011.
Apart from being the first governor of the state to complete a second time, he was also the first governor of the state to align with the government at the centre.
Until recently, he was a strong member of the Peoples Democratic Party and one of those who kept the party’s structure for so long.
His tenure as a governor brought about unprecedented developments to the state. Since he left office, he has had to fight many wars to remain relevant politically and escape the claws of those who allegedly wanted to ‘kill’ his businesses.
His successor, Ibikunle Amosun, who became governor on the platform of the Action Congress of Nigeria, had given OGD a deadly blow; many of his property, including his multimillion Naira hotel in the state, were allegedly seized.
Amosun had, a few months after he was sworn in, set up a Truth Commission to probe the activities of Daniel and his aides between 2003 and 2011.
Eventually, the committee made its recommendations. The government revoked the Certificates of Occupancy (Cs-of-O) granted to Gateway Front Foundation (GFF) and the Golf Resort Hotels in Abeokuta, the state capital.
The recommendations were contained in the Ogun State of Nigeria Gazette No. 6 Volume 37.
The gazette stated that the government of Ogun was taking over the said properties in the public interest, “as there is allegation that state funds were used in the construction of the hotels.”
The government, however, maintained that “no money shall be paid as compensation to Daniel, GFF or Golf Resort Hotels Ltd until the said allegations are determined.”
Consequently, the hotel was taken over by security personnel, who barred the former governor from gaining access to his private property.
The hotel, which is located at Presidential Boulevard along Oke-Mosan, opposite the Olusegun Obasanjo Presidential Library, Abeokuta, was said to have been erroneously constructed on an illegal land belonging to Golf Resort.
As he was fighting to keep his property, he was also struggling to keep his political career from collapsing before his very eyes in a match against his political ally in PDP, the late Senator Buruji Kashamu.
He was kayoed politically by the Ijebu-Igbo-born politician and almost lost his voice in the party.
In reminiscence, things got so bad that he even announced his retirement from active politics at a point. But like the biblical Daniel, the founder of Krestal Laurel Nigeria Limited triumphed over his ‘enemies’, and he is gradually getting back his groove politically.
He recently crossed over to the ruling party, the All Progressives Party, APC, where he is said to be channelling his new political direction.
